diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 3b30aff19..3c3e0b23b 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@ dependencies:
   - pyepr-quantum>=0.8.5.7
   - pygments
   - pyside2
+  - qdarkstyle
   - qutip
   - scipy
-  - shapely==1.8.2
+  - shapely
   - jupyter
   - scqubits
   - pip
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index df3683ed4..28bce209e 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@ pint
 pyEPR-quantum>=0.8.5.7
 pygments
 pyside2
+qdarkstyle
 qutip
 scipy
-shapely==1.8.2 #using conda on Windows OS: pip install of shapely will fail on import for missing geos_c.dll, if <= v1.7.x. For as long as a 1.8.0 version is not released (already patched in github), you will need to run `conda install shapely` (before installing qiskit_metal).
+shapely
 scqubits
 gmsh
 pyaedt   #since conda-forge doesn't have pyaedt, we have to manually pip install or completely switch to virtualenv .  virtualenv uses less memory than conda.